It’s okay. It’s okay.
She had to hope that they could somehow sense what she was trying to send to them with whatever latent psychic powers she might have – however, more than her lack of telepathy was the issue that everything wasnotokay.
She was stuck down a mine. She was separated from Trent. And, more than anything else, that cave-in hadnotbeen a natural occurrence.
Flattening her mouth into a grimace, Zina replayed the last few minutes over again in her mind. She’d heard something from the tunnel opposite. And then there’d been thebeepof a small explosive device. And then the tunnel had collapsed.
Trent and Quicksilver… what if…
She shook her head against the panic that rose up suddenly within her. She couldn’t let herself believe anything had happened to them – she wassureshe’d be able to sense it if Trent was badly injured, or worse. But she didn’t feel any difference in her bond with him – no cold, creeping horror that he was trapped or too badly injured to help himself.
Our mate! Our mate! We have to find him! Help him!
That knowledge didn’t seem to calm her antelope down even a little bit, however, as it shook its head and kicked its heels in anguish, agitated beyond anything Zina had ever felt in it before. It was desperate – and it was trying to take over Zina’s mind, its instinctive animal panic pushing out her rational ability to think things through.
Calm down,Zina told it, as she looked around the cavern as the dust finally began settling.We won’t get anywhere if you’re just going to panic and exhaust yourself. This is a big mine, and Hector said he thought he saw multiple exits and entrances. If we follow the tunnel, chances are we’ll find our way to one… as long as we don’t run into whoever set off that explosion first.
A chill ran down her spine as she turned toward the tunnel leading out of the cavern.
It might have been automatic,Zina reasoned as she cautiously approached it.It might have been set to go off if any non-Hargreaves personnel came down here. I didn’t see anything to disable it on the way in – no keypass or code box – but it could have been cleverly concealed.
Looking back at the pile of rubble that now sealed the other tunnel, Zina could see that there was no way she’d be able to dig through it with her bare hands – the rocks were too big, and there was too much of it.
Oh – but –
A ray of hope shone suddenly as she remembered Trent had the hand-held excavator in his pack. She wasn’t sure how long it’d take him to dig through the rubble, but itcouldbe done. All she’d need to do in that case was wait until he dug his way through to her.
And, sure enough, after a moment, she heard a sound – a steady, buzzing drone, definitely mechanical. As she watched, a few small pebbles vibrated out of place in the wall of rocks and rubble, and she knew Trent had started up the excavator and was making his way to her.
“It’ll be okay,” she said, now that she could talk again, looking down at where Goldie and Dusty were nestled in her shirt. “We’ll be out of here in no time.”
“Ah. Well. That’s where you’re wrong, Ms. Alden.”
Zina froze, a cold shiver running down her spine.
That voice…
As she turned slowly, sheknewshe’d heard that voice before – it was distorted by the echo of the mine, but still, she knew it.
“Dr. Sumner?”
The laugh from somewhere within the tunnel made her blood run cold. It was cold and cruel – just as Zina knew Doctor James Sumner was.
And she knew exactly why he was here.
I stole his fingerprints to get into the lab where they were keeping the eggs. He was my supervisor when I did a rotation through their security systems department – everything I knew about their lab systems, I learned from him. He was in charge of it. He was in charge of keeping the eggs safe.
And she’d stolen the eggs right out from beneath his nose, using his own fingerprints and the systems he’d designed against him.
No wonder he was here, and no wonder he waspissed.
“That’s right, Ms. Alden. I’m glad to see you haven’t forgotten me, after all this time.”
Swallowing, Zina instinctively crossed her arms over her chest, where Dusty and Goldie were still huddled. She knew she couldn’t hope to conceal them for long, but she hoped she might at least be able to stop Sumner from seeing them until she could figure out what she was going to do next. There was only one way out of this cavern at the moment, and Sumner was standing in her way – though she couldn’t actuallyseehim yet, even with the night vision goggles.
“Oh, don’t worry – I already know about the fact those eggs have finally hatched,” Sumner continued in his cold, smooth voice. “I’ll have to thank you for finally figuring that out – we hadn’t gotten anywhere with them for years. So if nothing else, I do owe you a favor for that. It’ll be yet another thing I can use to restore my reputation on my return.”
“Your reputation?” Zina asked – but she was mainly playing for time as she edged her way around the cavern. She needed to stall – Trent was trying to dig her out as they spoke. All she needed was to buy some time.
